Improvement in tongue-supports for vehicles



r. c. Bimolua.

Tongue-Supports for Vehicles. Y No.l55,36l. I Patented Sept. 29,1874.

hinizs; 6,9; Zamcniam UNITED STATES PATENT Grrrcn.

FIRMEN O. BROOKE, OF GILMAN, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN TONGUE-SUPPORTS FOR VEHICLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,361, dated September 29, 1874; application filed August 10, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FIRMEN G. BROOKE, of Gilman, in the county of Iroquois and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Adjustable \Vagon-Tongue Supports; and hereby declare the following to be a full and clear description of the same, which will enable others to make and use my improved tongue.

This invention relates to an adjustable sliding bar secured to the top front end of the hounds of the front part of wagons, and arranged to slide over the cleats or projections on the back end of the tongue, so as to hold the tongue up at different elevations, or so that it can easily be withdrawn, and thereby let the tongue drop down when required.

The invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I is a sectional side elevation of the front part of a wagon provided with the improved tongue-support. Fig. II is a plan of the same.

As this improvement may be applied to any wagon, no particular mention will herein be made to the construction or constituent parts thereof. In general terms, however, the Wagons to which this invention is to be applied have hounds A attached to the front axle B, and the tongue 0 is hinged or pivotedubetween the front ends of these hound-pieces by an assembling-bolt, a. In order to support or stiffen this tongue, so as to keep its weight off of the horses necks, and thereby lessen the labor of the animals and keep from making their necks sore, I employ a sliding bar, D, arranged to slide on the top forward end of the aforesaid hounds, and to engage over the cleats or projections 0 formed on or attached to the back end of the tongue.

The arrangement of the parts is such that when the aforesaid sliding bar is thrown forward over the said cleats c the tongue will be held up in the required position for use, and any desirable elevation of the said tongue may be produced by sliding the bar more or less forward, the adjustment being made by having the lower or bearing surfaces of the cleats c inclined slightly upward toward the rear front. When the sliding bar is thrown completely back, or withdrawn from over the cleats c, the tongue will be at liberty to drop down.

Pins a are driven into the hounds to form guides to direct the sliding bar in its forward and backward motions, and a spring, E, is arranged to connect the sliding bar to the hound,

so as to hold the bar forward.

There may be also employed a catch or pawl and a cogged or toothed rack (not shown) to hold the sliding bar in place.

Having described my invention, I desire to claim- The sliding bar D, springs E, and projections 0, in combination with the hound A and tongue 0, substantially as and for the purpose described.

FIRMEN O. BROOKE. Witnesses:

GYRUs SHINN, JOHN BARNES. 

